


The Secret of Project 10

by NeonPistachio



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Getting Together, M/M, Pining Steve, Ridiculousness, Secrets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-01
Updated: 2017-10-01
Packaged: 2019-01-07 21:39:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12241110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NeonPistachio/pseuds/NeonPistachio
Summary: Tony's hiding something. Steve wants to find out what it is.





	The Secret of Project 10

Tony checks the corners of his workshop carefully to make sure there are no unexpected supersoldiers. Nope, he’s alone. ‘Jarvis, protocol kappa sigma twelve is now in full effect.’ He hears the door locking and the vents sealing off. His workshop is in full, complete, super secret lockdown mode. ‘Bring out Project 10!’ This is one of his oldest and most closely-guarded projects, so well hidden that even Pepper and Rhodey have no idea of its existence. If anyone discovered Project 10 the consequences could be devastating.  
Dummy comes trundling out dragging behind him a large box on wheels. This project is so super secret it can never be put on Jarvis’s servers for fear of discovery. In silence Tony lifts the lid off the box and reveals Project 10 in its full glory. As he takes it out Jarvis begins the appropriate playlist and Tony contemplates what he hath wrought. Then, ‘Let the project, Commence!’ 

Two hours later, with every bit of Project 10 packed carefully away Tony releases the lockdown and makes his way to the kitchen in desperate need of more coffee.  
The first person he bumps into is Natasha, who gives him an assessing stare. He ignores her and heads for the coffee pot. Even though she’s a super-spy and was briefly his assistant there’s no way she could know about Project 10. He stands at the counter sipping his coffee and wondering what to work on next. He needs to reinforce Thor’s com unit again, and Clint was asking about upgraded taser arrows, and he had an idea for the suit last night…  
Steve walks in whilst he’s thinking. ‘Tony, I came down earlier to see if you wanted to get lunch but Jarvis said you were on total lockdown.’  
‘Yeah, sorry Cap, I was working on something volatile. But I’m finished now, we could get lunch? Or have you eaten?’  
‘No, I could eat, where do you wanna go? I was thinking that café that does the smoothies and doughnuts?’  
‘Sounds good, I’ll just go and find some shoes. Meet you in the lobby?’ Tony walks out, draining the last of his coffee as he goes. Natasha looks at Steve, whom she had watched eat four sandwiches and an enormous bag of crisps less than an hour ago. He blushes. ‘Shut up, he hasn’t eaten, this is just to get food in him.’  
‘You’re taking him to get his favourite food when he could have a sandwich here, in a nice café when he probably wouldn’t have noticed if the tower was on fire as long as there was food, and you’re saying it’s just to get him to eat. Steve, that man would have agreed if you’d asked him to go to New Jersey to watch a documentary about 1940’s Public Service Announcements with you. Just ask him out already.’  
‘I will, maybe, just not yet, byeNatashagottago.’ Steve practically runs out of the room. Natasha rolls her eyes. Ridiculous, both of them.

\-----------------------------------

There’s something going on with Tony. Sometimes when Steve goes down to the workshop Jarvis tells him it’s on lockdown, and nothing he can say will get Tony to open the door or tell him what he’s doing. Even that one time when there was a call to assemble Tony didn’t let him in for over five minutes and when he did, Steve looked round carefully but he couldn’t see anything that would’ve necessitated that degree of security.  
Steve takes to hanging out in the workshop at odd times, hoping to get some idea of what Tony’s working on in secret. He thought it might be new tech as a surprise for the team, but Tony’s fairly open about that sort of thing and nothing new appears so Steve abandons that idea. But no matter how much time he spends down there he can’t figure out what Tony’s working on, and still about once a week the workshop goes on lockdown and Tony won’t say what he’s up to.

Steve complains about this to Bucky, who just laughs. ‘Let him have some secrets. Living in this place is like living in a sorority. Everyone knows pretty much everything about everyone else. He’s not hurting anyone so leave him be. Maybe’ he adds slyly, ‘he’d be more likely to tell you if you guys were dating.’ Steve throws a cushion at him. To add insult to injury, next time he goes down to see Tony he’s told the workshop is on lockdown and he can’t come in. 

Steve doesn’t like this new habit of Tony’s. Tony said he was working on something volatile. What if it’s really dangerous and Tony gets hurt and he’s too hurt to tell Jarvis to lift the lockdown? Or what if he’s dating someone long distance and video chatting to them in the workshop? And what if they break Tony’s heart and whomever he’s dating doesn’t know that if they hurt Tony then they’ll have to answer to Steve? Whomever it is needs to know that Tony has people who will not take it well if he’s dating someone – that is, if he’s dating someone and they hurt him. At this point he looks down to realise that he’s crushed the TV remote. He sighs and fetches a new one; between Thor, Clint and himself they go through quite a few. 

Steve decides that drastic action is needed. He has to know what Tony’s doing. It’s a matter of security. If he can’t get in through the door he’ll have to try something else. Taking a leaf out of Clint’s book he takes to the vents, just managing to fit. He slowly crawls his way to the opening in Tony’s workshop only to find his way blocked by a metal sheet with a large yellow warning label on it. The label reads ‘Caution: Super Secret lockdown in process. Attempts to infiltrate will be met with extreme resistance and loss of hot water privileges.’ Defeated, he has to wiggle backwards all the way to the vent he entered through. Bucky is passing as he emerges and he gives Steve a very judgemental look.

Next he attempts to convince Thor to take him on a flyby of the workshop windows. Thor seems sympathetic but won’t help. ‘’Tis a vexatious problem to be sure, but attempting to invade the privacy of your friend is not the way to win his heart. Might I suggest -’ Steve leaves before he can finish. 

When he’s visiting Tony in the workshop he notices a couple of floor hatches that looks like they might have potential. Sadly, when he casually asks Jarvis he learns that one is an access panel to the stopcock for the upper floors of the tower and the other is access to the wiring channels which are, Jarvis informs him, only large enough for small drone repair units to traverse.

\-----------------------------------

Tony checks very carefully for supersoldiers, then asks Jarvis to be extra sure. Steve has recently been hanging around much more and Tony is beginning to get paranoid. What if Steve knows about Project 10? Is he trying to catch Tony in the act? Why is he so interested all of a sudden?  
Assured that there are no hidden supersoldiers lurking about Tony locks down the workshop and Dummy brings out Project 10. Jarvis begins the playlist and Tony happily gets to work. With Steve about so often he’s not been able to spend as much time on it as he’d have liked. He’s got a lot he wants to do. 

Tony didn’t have lunch before he locked himself in the workshop and he’s only part way through the work he wants to get done before Dummy comes up to him with a plate of toast. He waves irritatedly at him. ‘Just put it down there, Dummy, I’ll eat it in a moment.’ He goes back to work. A little while later Dummy pokes at him, and Tony waves him off again. A sad beep follows and Dummy takes the toast away. Shortly after, he returns it more charred and Tony grunts in acknowledgement and then ignores him. Dummy takes the toast away again and Tony sinks back into his work haze.  
Jarvis breaks in a short while later. ‘Sir. Sir. Sir, Dummy is attempting to re-heat your toast for the fifth time and I estimate that it will soon catch fire.’ Tony looks up.  
‘What?’  
‘Sir, your toast is about to-’ There is a frenzied beeping from Dummy and a smell of smoke, then the fire alarm goes off. Dummy scuttles frantically away to find his fire extinguisher. He grabs it as a thudding noise comes from the workshop door.  
‘Tony, the fire alarm went off.’ Steve. Of course. ‘Tony, are you Ok? Answer me or I’m coming in there!’  
‘I’m fine, Cap, it’s all -’ His words are drowned out by the hiss of the fire extinguisher. The thumps come again. ‘Tony, I’m coming in.’  
Tony looks in panic at Project 10, still lying on the table in front of him. ‘No, Steve, don’t -’ The door gives a shudder and crashes open. Steve rushes over to him. ‘Tony, are you Ok? Are you hurt?’  
‘I’m fine, Cap, really fine, no need for you to come in, it was just Dummy, everything’s under control, thanks for checking, you can go now, c’mon, shoo.’ Tony tries to push Steve out of the workshop whilst simultaneously blocking Steve’s view of the workbench with his body. It doesn’t work.  
‘Tony, why do you have… why do you have lots of cut out pictures of puppies on your desk?’  
Tony blanks for a moment. ‘...Research?’  
Steve looks baffled. ‘Research into what? And is that a -’  
‘No, nope, absolutely not.’  
Steve looks amused. ‘Are you sure? Because it really does look like a -’  
Tony is annoyed. ‘Yes, Ok, it’s a scrapbook. I am cutting out pictures of puppies and putting them in a scrapbook. That’s what I do when I lock down the workshop. I scrapbook. Happy now?’  
Steve lets out a big breath. ‘Oh, thank god, it was driving me up the wall not knowing. I thought you were doing something really dangerous, or you were dating someone and talking to them by video. I’m so glad it’s not that.’  
‘No, I’m not dating anyone, and it’s nothing dangerous – wait a minute, what do you mean, you’re so glad it’s not that? Do you not want me to be dating someone? Do you want me to be miserable and alone and -’ Steve kisses him. Tony is so surprised he continues trying to talk for a few seconds. Then he gets with the program.

A short while later, sitting on the workshop couch, Steve asks about it. ‘Why were you keeping it secret?’ Tony sighs. ‘My Mom used to scrapbook and it was one of the few things we did together. She’d always have this playing when she did’ he gestures, indicating the music. ‘As I got older, Howard didn’t like it. He thought I should be focussing more on science and engineering. I stopped, but after they died I started again. It helps me remember her. And, I dunno, it’s relaxing. It’s nice to do something that’s not superhero related every so often.’  
‘And the puppies?’  
Tony blushes a little. ‘They’re cute. I have lots of different scrapbooks. My first few were Captain America ones.’ He grins.  
Steve imagines a young Tony carefully gluing Captain America pictures into a scrapbook. ‘Can I see?’  
‘Um, Ok, I guess. They’re all in that box over there. My Mom’s ones are in there too.’  
Steve fetches the box and they spend some time going through a few of the books. Tony has a wide variety of subjects including several that have photos, articles and drawings of robots. They pack them all away after a while. As they’re leaving, Steve hesitates before he asks ‘Can I join you next time?’

\-----------------------------------

The Avengers are sitting round the kitchen table. In the middle of the table there are piles of magazines and print outs, and each person has at least one scrapbook in front of them. In the background Frank Sinatra sings softly. Thor is leafing through the magazines with a frown on his face. Suddenly he slams them down. ‘This is not acceptable!’ he booms. Clint looks up. ‘What’s not acceptable? Not enough pop-tarts?’ Thor frowns.  
‘Nay, that was last week. This week I am doing cats. It is not acceptable. There Should Be More Fluffy Kittens!’  
Pepper flicks through the stack next to her. ‘Here Thor, here’s Kittens Magazine and Kittens USA.’  
‘Many thanks, Lady Pepper.’ Thor sits down again. ‘How goes your Volume of Shoes?’  
‘Very well, thank you’ Pepper replies, carefully cutting round a photo of the newest Louboutins. Next to her, Natasha is pasting a flower crown onto a photo of her favourite knife. Above it is a cut out from Pointe. Beside her sits her throwing stars and butterflies scrapbook.  
Clint has a stack of scrapbooks open in front of him, each carefully separated into a different shade of purple. Bucky has gourmet food and guns. Bruce has one for interesting scientific articles and another for postcards from around the world.  
Hulk, when he joins in, has photos of things that have been smashed. And unicorns.  
Tony is working on a scrapbook of awful knock-off Avengers toys and plushies. Last week it was dinosaurs and robots. Sitting next to him, Steve is pasting in photos of world monuments next to fan mail from kids around the world, and he has another book for motorbikes. He was also nominated glue monitor after one particularly messy session.  
Jarvis is in charge of making sure there’s a supply of suitably photo rich magazines available on a variety of subjects. He doesn’t join in the scrapbooking but he does have a collection of beautifully written yet pointless code.

Clint tells Tony in confidence that Coulson has a scrapbook full of Captain America fanart.


End file.
